MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[David Collinge]

that schould move the regional rankings around a little with witt and albion going down today

We'll see how much they move... I'd guess Woosters goes to #1, Lawrence goes to #2, Witt goes #3 and Hope stays where they are.

Lawrence is not in the Great Lakes.  You might have the national rankings about right, however, although I expect Hope will also pass Wittenberg.

[bulldogalum]

Well, despite the loss for the Bulldogs today, I saw a lot of things I liked.  Honestly, in the first half, Adrian looked better than they had probably since December.  They attacked the basket, got some turnovers, protected the basketball, and clawed back a couple of times after Calvin runs.  Unfortunately for us Adrian faithful, Calvin simply made too many shots in long stretches.  Seemed like every time Adrian would get in position to make things REALLY interesting, Draayer or Trewhella would nail a 3, usually from considerably behind the arc.  It was really rather depressing. 

The buzzer beater to end the half seemed to take the air right out of the gym.  Not only was it an improbable shot, but the guy took at least 3 1/2 steps before he shot it, and the ref flat out missed it.  Make no mistake, the officiating was generally very good in this game, only a few calls stand out.

Calvin started the second half red hot and never looked back.  This has been a tough season, but I have really been impressed by how the Bulldogs have continued to fight through the season, and for the full 40 minutes of each game.  Says a lot about the character of these kids.

[RastaRob]

I tell you what. It is nice to be right sometimes. Richardson was the difference. I completely agree. Clearly as a whole the team played better. But with Scotty coming up big and not lettting up when Voisen needed a break was huge for Hope today.

The other great thing about Hope is that every player seemed to step up at different times. Voisen was consistent for 38 minutes. the first two he lokked as if he didnt know how to play defense or rebound. The other players were also consistent, but different players came up with big plays at different times. Carlson hit the threes when they wer absolutely neccesary. Cramer srated palying better near the end of the game. Immink shut down Bailey and dished out teh ball well the whole game. The reality is that when Hope went inside Albion didnt knwo what to do. Hope was either making the layups or kicking out for nice threes and jumpers. Hope looked great today. I really believe they are well rounded and will be tough to beat this year.

[MIdoubleA]

that schould move the regional rankings around a little with witt and albion going down today

We'll see how much they move... I'd guess Woosters goes to #1, Lawrence goes to #2, Witt goes #3 and Hope stays where they are.

Lawrence is not in the Great Lakes.  You might have the national rankings about right, however, although I expect Hope will also pass Wittenberg.

Haha, whoops. Well at least you knew what I meant 

[sac]

They've got web sites for everything these days

http://www.geocities.com/hopedewcrew/index.html


Some photos on the site.....what struck me were the older ones from the Civic and how packed in the crowd looked compared to DeVos.

[allsportball]

Bulldogalum, I agree seemed team came to play with a lot of energy but staying in the press gave Calvin numerous WIDE OPEN 3'S. Another poor coaching decision. I would like for Dr Dock to seat in on one half time talks and seat on the bench. Buck seems to be so postive with his players and coaching???   

[pointlem]

Hope's two runs (20-2 in the first half, 16-0 in the second) were amazing.  What a game of runs.

Although one can credit Albion with winning the game's other minutes, the explosiveness of those runs, the team chemistry, and the fact that Carlson-Wolfe-Richardson-Partridge performed to the same high standard all bode well.  (Jeff Carlson seems to have worked his way back to his first year shooting touch, Tyler Wolfe is showing he can drive and defend as well as shoot the long ball, and Marcus VanderHeide showed skill at posting up and rotating to the basket---a hard guy to stay with.)  But then Calvin also seems to be playing its best ball late in the season.  What a great game, once again, for Wednesday night.

Sac, you missed a great day at DeVos.  Have you been making other games (even when giving in-game updates . . . from a Blackberry?)

Civic Minded, where was Evan Hare yesterday?  (I thought he was better, and had been practicing, but wasn't seen even in street clothes.)

[Stinger]

The Hornets continue to show that MIAA coaches were out of their mind to put them last in the preseason voting.  They swept the Alma and Adrian series, and now have a huge game on Wednesday against Tri-State.  K needs this one if they want a shot at hosting the first round.  K finishes with Senior Day vs Albion, then on the road against Olivet and Calvin.  Tri-State has,  Alma, @Adrian, and @ Hope.

Briton fans, any comments about yesterday? 

[albionbritfan]

It definitely was a game of runs.  But I am a little surprised at all the talk about shutting down Crawford.  He still scored 22 points.  Frankly this game got away from Albion because Hope ran a great offense and Albion could not get the ball to fall (see Albion's 3 pt shooting 1-for-whatever when the ballgame was still in hand).  It was the absolute opposite of the last meeting.  I think the pressure now is finally off Albion and they can just go out and play like they can.  They have nothing to lose at this point.

[MIdoubleA]

Civic Minded, where was Evan Hare yesterday?  (I thought he was better, and had been practicing, but wasn't seen even in street clothes.)

I don't think that this has hit anyone yet other than the team and students, but Hare had a seizure on Friday I believe. They found out one of the side effects of his medications (for his back) is seizures and apparently he had one. There were multiple cop cars and an ambulance around his place that night. Hopefully we will hear something positive soon...

[Picket Fence]

It's amazing how other people see things.  Cramer and Immink are getting praise for their good or consistent play, but I'm still waiting for Cramer to show up for the game and Immink played poorly in the first half and wasn't even in the game for Hope's run, but turned it around and played lights out in the second half.

Richardson did have a great game.  I wondered why it took VWs so long to get him into the game in the second half, it was almost six minutes of terrible offense before Scott got in and sparked the team again.  The ball moves so much better when he is in the game.  Tyler Wolfe also had a great game. His game has improved more than anyone on the team since the beginning of the year.

Are the regional rankings out?

[NW Hope Fan]

It definitely was a game of runs.  But I am a little surprised at all the talk about shutting down Crawford.  He still scored 22 points.  Frankly this game got away from Albion because Hope ran a great offense and Albion could not get the ball to fall (see Albion's 3 pt shooting 1-for-whatever when the ballgame was still in hand).  It was the absolute opposite of the last meeting.  I think the pressure now is finally off Albion and they can just go out and play like they can.  They have nothing to lose at this point.

I think the only thing that was directly said by Civic Minded was "Crawford not scoring for a 12 minute stretch = Scott Richardson." Then correcting that statement with "Scott was huge in stopping Crawford but he didn't do it alone."

The point was, I believe, how having Richardson back for this game (he didn't play the first meeting), kept Crawford in check (to a degree) while he was in the game. Do you not agree?

I don't think anyone would argue your point of Crawford having another great game... but Richardson may have made some of the difference this week.

[Stinger]

Crawford was 8-12 for 22 points, the last being at the 14:49  minute mark. Only one more shot the rest of the way, at 5:48 to go? Something happened there, and I was just curious as to why it did.  Albion had a 4 minute drought, stuck on 42. You'd think you'd get it down into the big man every time down.

[David Collinge]

Are the regional rankings out?

The first iteration of regional rankings will be released on Wednesday.

[MIdoubleA]

I can't remember who said this before, but if you put a 5-ft halo around the basketball hoop that Crawford couldn't not go inside of, and he would have VERY little game. 3 out of the 4 shots he missed were jumpers (one being an airball), the other being an unlucky bounce for a layup. I have only seen him play once, and he may have had an "off night" shooting, but he just looked terrible unless he was under the basket.

At any rate, looking forward to this week  National rankings and regional rankings should be interesting...